Posted by Bill on 07/04/06 15:43

Richard Crowley wrote:
> "Bill" wrote ...
>
>> I have been searching the web for a while and I haven't been able to
>> find a good, objective source of information for setting up a
>> streaming video service on our IIS webserver. We prefer to avoid
>> proprietary technologies, but we would like an efficient, reliable
>> service. Anyone have a recommendation?
>
>
> Is there a "non-proprietary" technology of streaming
> video?

Yes. Macromedia will serve up flash files only; I believe Windows Media
Server only serves up video formatted in Microsoft's codec. Several
other companies offer streaming services, but you have to use their
codec and their client to watch the video.

The issue is: if you don't have the client belonging to the same vendor,
you can't play the video.

There are several formats that will be played by almost any media
player, or can be accessed using easily downloaded codecs, including
VCD, SVCD, DVD, and most DivX formats.

As I'm describing this, I'm beginning to realize that, actually,
"streaming" video is likely always going to be a proprietary codec; the
other codecs are aimed at downloaders. Point taken.

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